From 3ec227708fd1461972391f7a1d986befb4e7966d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Baobab Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 09:14:44 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 1/7] added a non spyware section --- articles/index.html | 6 +++++- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/articles/index.html b/articles/index.html index 4ebaa60..056f67f 100644 --- a/articles/index.html +++ b/articles/index.html @@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ Discord [Espanol]

Mozilla Thunderbird

- Telegram

Hexchat

@@ -104,6 +103,11 @@ CDex

Paint.NET

+

Not Spyware but Has Privacy Issues

+
+ Telegram

+ HyperText Transmission Protocol

+
From c246052fb7316060af8455c90ef61ef4eef829c5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Baobab Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 09:18:15 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 2/7] fixed typo --- articles/index.html | 3 ++- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/articles/index.html b/articles/index.html index 056f67f..0c163bf 100644 --- a/articles/index.html +++ b/articles/index.html @@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ CDex

Paint.NET

-

Not Spyware but Has Privacy Issues

+
+

Not Spyware but Has Privacy Issues

Telegram

HyperText Transmission Protocol

From 9d2fd8d7148346c1ccbba16b73352601c46cc811 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Baobab Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 09:19:55 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 3/7] Update 'style.css' --- style.css | 4 ++++ 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+) diff --git a/style.css b/style.css index a8f68c3..afbc510 100644 --- a/style.css +++ b/style.css @@ -169,3 +169,7 @@ xmp { .lime { color: lime; } + +.yellow { + color: yellow; +} \ No newline at end of file From a3e06b59220eabecb7a84e02830d613a97d17f53 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Baobab Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 10:00:44 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 4/7] retested telegram not much has changed --- articles/telegram.html | 106 ++++++++++++++++++----------------------- 1 file changed, 46 insertions(+), 60 deletions(-) diff --git a/articles/telegram.html b/articles/telegram.html index ae46f6a..4c66825 100644 --- a/articles/telegram.html +++ b/articles/telegram.html @@ -1,60 +1,46 @@ - - - - - - - Telegram — Spyware Watchdog - - - Telegram Logo -

Telegram

-

-Telegram is an instant messaging program that allows you to send text, images, videos and also any other files to other Telegram users. -

-

Spyware Level: Medium

-

-Telegram has some spyware features in it such as the telephone number verification, and routing communications through official Telegram servers in most cases. However, Telegram contains privacy features and claims to not collect any user information[1]. -

-

Telephone Number Required

-

-Telegram features the more modern spyware feature that requires the user to associate their persistent user identity with a telephone number. This is obviously a breach of privacy, because Telegram requires the user to disclose this personal information. -

-

Centralized communication routing

-

-Telegram does not use peer-to-peer or private servers for the majority of its communications. This means that Telegram is capable of logging all of the communications you send through its service, unless you opt to only use the Peer-to-Peer features of Telegram. Centralized communication routing has a high potential to be spyware. Telegram attempts to use Peer-to-Peer communication for Voice Calls, but it may disclose IP address to the counterpart. Telegram claims in its privacy policy[1] that it does not collect any information, but it is impossible to prove this. -

-

-Telegram's server software is closed source and Telegram does not distribute its server software. There is no way for other people to host their own Telegram services because -of this, meaning that the servers that the developers operate are the only choice for using this messaging platform. -

-

Telegram does not follow its GPLv2 Obligations

-

-Telegram clients are advertised as free software, but in practice the source code is not immediately accessible[2], the delay sometimes being up to 5 months. So, unknown spyware features could be in the official Telegram client binaries that you download, without you knowing. It's recommended that you build an outdated version of telegram from its source code, since it's not provable whether or not the binaries that are distributed have unknown spyware or not. -

-
-
-

Sources

-

- 1. - Telegram Privacy Policy - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is]
- - 2. - Where are the sources of the latest releases? - [archive.li]
-

- -
-

- This article was last edited on 2/18/2019 -

-

- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), contact us on XMPP over in spyware@conference.nuegia.net, or visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted. -

- CC0 License -

Back to catalog

-
- - + + + + + + + + Telegram - Spyware Watchdog + + + +
+
+ ← Catalog +
+
+ Telegram Logo +

Telegram

+

Telegram is an instant messaging program that allows you to send text, images, videos and also any other files to other Telegram users.

+

Spyware Level: Not Rated

+

Telegram has some privacy problems such as the telephone number verification, and routing communications through official Telegram servers in most cases. However, Telegram contains privacy features and claims to not collect any user information[1].

+

Telephone Number Required

+

Telegram features the more modern spyware feature that requires the user to associate their persistent user identity with a telephone number. This is obviously a breach of privacy, because Telegram requires the user to disclose this personal information.

+

Centralized communication routing

+

Telegram does not use peer-to-peer or private servers for the majority of its communications. This means that Telegram is capable of logging all of the communications you send through its service, unless you opt to only use the Peer-to-Peer features of Telegram. Centralized communication routing has a high potential to be spyware. Telegram attempts to use Peer-to-Peer communication for Voice Calls, but it may disclose IP address to the counterpart. Telegram claims in its privacy policy.[1] that it does not collect any information, but it is impossible to prove this.

+

Telegram's server software is closed source and Telegram does not distribute its server software. There is no way for other people to host their own Telegram services because of this, meaning that the servers that the developers operate are the only choice for using this messaging platform.

+

Telegram does not follow its GPLv2 Obligations

+

Telegram clients are advertised as free software, but in practice the source code is not immediately accessible.[2], the delay sometimes being up to 5 months. So, unknown spyware features could be in the official Telegram client binaries that you download, without you knowing. It's recommended that you build an outdated version of telegram from its source code, since it's not provable whether or not the binaries that are distributed have unknown spyware or not.

+
+
+
+

Sources

+

1.Telegram Privacy Policy [web.archive.org]

+

2.Where are the sources of the latest releases? [web.archive.org]

+
+

This article was created on 2/18/2019

+

This article was lasted edited on 10/11/2020

+
+
+

If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.

+

All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.

+ CC0 License +
+
+ + \ No newline at end of file From a9976e7e0000b98107666730157b7dd39fae646c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Baobab Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 10:28:37 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 5/7] added http article --- articles/http.html | 45 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 45 insertions(+) create mode 100644 articles/http.html diff --git a/articles/http.html b/articles/http.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2df6af8 --- /dev/null +++ b/articles/http.html @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ + + + + + + + + HTTP - Spyware Watchdog + + + +
+
+ ← Catalog +
+
+ World Wide Web Consortum: The maintainers of the HTTP standard +

HyperText Transmission Protocol

+

HTTP is a protocol usually used for transferring HyperText Markup Language documents accross the internet.

+

Spyware Level: Not Rated

+

HTTP is a protocol that is not designed with the privacy of its users in mind. The language used in the HTTP specification explicitly says that the protocol was designed with enabling the datamining of its users in mind, and contains features that are not absolutely necessary for the purpose of the protocol, but allow the protocol compromise user privacy.

+

"User-Agent" Datamining feature

+

Section 14.43[1] of the HTTP specification details the "User-Agent" feature of the protocol that, when implemented, will attach information about your computing enviroment that can be used to track you. The biggest danger of the User-Agent is that there is no way to anonymously opt-out of this- even if you do not provide a user-agent, because almost everyone else does, you will be tracked by the fact that you do not provide that information. There are many strategies to mitigate this, with only varying levels of success, but the problem is that this is the acceptable standard of how HTTP is used and not the forgotten feature that it should be. Not only does the User-Agent feature collect this unncessary information, its purpose is explicitly stated in the protocol specifications to aid in datamining.

+

"The User-Agent request-header field contains information about the user agent originating the request. This is for statistical purposes, the tracing of protocol violations, and automated recognition of user agents for the sake of tailoring responses to avoid particular user agent limitations. User agents SHOULD include this field with requests."

+

Acknowledgement of HTTP's privacy problem

+

In the HTTP specification, the W3C explicitly acknowledges the serious privacy violations that implementations of this protocol are capable of comitting. Section 15.1[2] of the HTTP specification has a very detailed analysis of the implications of the comprimization of privacy that the User-Agent allows to happen and suggests how to use the User-Agent feature: as an opt-in feature where the privacy concerns of using such a feature are properly explained to the user. Even though this is a good section, it shows a very naive viewpoint from the W3C, the expectation that this feature would not be abused, and the expectation that implementers of this standard would respect the privacy of their users and would not use these features of the protocol to datamine users.

+

At best, you could call this mindset naive. If you want to hold the W3C in contempt, you could call it malicious. It's easy to write in your standard that while you could use this protocol to monitor the behavior of users, you should ask for their permission. But once that standard is widely implemented, and is widely used for the exact malicious purpose that was acknowledged in its specification, who's fault is that?

+
+
+
+

Sources

+

1.Section 14 of the HTTP/1.1 Specification [web.archive.org]

+

2.Section 15 of the HTTP/1.1 Specification [web.archive.org]

+
+

This article was created on 5/14/2018

+

This article was lasted edited on 10/11/2020

+
+
+

If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.

+

All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.

+ CC0 License +
+
+ + \ No newline at end of file From d93da20307eb8c82b93ac490b33f0e31b38f0ba0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Baobab Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 17:12:51 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 6/7] removed the not needed tag --- articles/telegram.html | 1 - 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/articles/telegram.html b/articles/telegram.html index 4c66825..baa88c2 100644 --- a/articles/telegram.html +++ b/articles/telegram.html @@ -36,7 +36,6 @@

This article was created on 2/18/2019

This article was lasted edited on 10/11/2020

-

If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.

All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.

CC0 License From 7e40c9e7de36d7787ade9472197adebeeef238d9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Baobab Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2020 17:13:43 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 7/7] removed the not needed tag --- articles/http.html | 1 - 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/articles/http.html b/articles/http.html index 2df6af8..68549cf 100644 --- a/articles/http.html +++ b/articles/http.html @@ -35,7 +35,6 @@

This article was created on 5/14/2018

This article was lasted edited on 10/11/2020

-

If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.

All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.

CC0 License